Livestock pens and confinement stalls are well known in the farm and ranch industry. Portable and temporary stalls are used to work with cattle, sheep, horses, and other domesticated animals. The need for confinement of animals exists when they are transported in trailers of various types. This type of device is often used in temporary situations to vaccinate animals or to separate certain ones from a group for a special purpose such as cleaning, worming, or birthing inside a structure such as a barn.
Numerous types of chutes have been constructed in the past for use both inside and outside. Chutes are sometimes adapted for use in a corral system of fences and gates. Animals can be driven into a chute and confined therein. These chutes are often quite large and bulky, often built right into the fence.
Some have special features designed for a particular type of animal. U.S. Pat. No. 4,201,158 issued to Parker in 1980 includes an elevated transverse crossbar at the front of the chute to prevent a horse from rearing its legs over the front. Other designs include stanchions for capturing the head of a cow or sheep to hold the animal in a stationary position. Some chutes are designed for a specific purpose, such as sorting animals into various other pens.
These devices aim to be used with existing fence systems like a corral. Their mobility is limited generally as they are not made to be used in circumstances requiring mobility. They are often most useful in an outdoor environment and, as such, their utility is affected by weather conditions.
Other inventions are more portable in nature. The use of confinement stalls in a movable trailer is well known. Semi tractor-trailers are daily used to transport cattle and other animals. They generally use fixed sized stalls to confine animals, however. Specialized chutes of the type of this invention are generally not necessary or used for general purposes.
Trailers are sometimes used to carry confinement fences for use outside the trailer. U.S. Pat. No. 3,921,585 issued to Hall in 1975 is such a device. A system of interlocking fence panels are attached about the trailer to form a confinement pen. Other nuances of this principal exist as well. The primary focus of these inventions, however, is to create a confinement area outside the trailer vehicle. These are also pens as opposed to a chute.
Other confinement devices are directed at free standing fence pens. U.S. Pat. No. 3,651,851 issued to Curtis in 1972 demonstrates a folding pen that is pivotal held together by a series of sleeves that interlock fence panels. Though the pen is collapsible, it has limited stability as it is a free standing unit. The unit is of some use in confining an animal, but it is of limited utility for performing a number of functions due to the fact that it is not stabilized by an immobile anchoring object.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,9979,471 issued to Hartshorn in 1990 discloses a hinged confinement chute. The chute includes upright side panels with a diagonally directed front gate that may be locked in an open or closed position. The chute is portable, however, neither is not anchored to an object nor is it collapsible.
Conventional chutes and pens often have advantages when used in particular circumstances for particular purposes. There has not heretofore been a chute designed that is portable, collapsible, and able to be anchored by attachment to the wall surface of a trailer or barn structure. This is the type of device described in the present invention.